The Celtics wanted to re-sign Allen, but were unwilling to give him a
third guaranteed year. The most Boston offered was a two-year, $5.2
million offer, with a partial guaranteed third year. At that point the
28-year-old Allen decided to entertain the Memphis offer, which has no
partial guarantees or team options. The Grizzlies like the toughness
that Allen is expected to bring to Memphis as a reserve behind guard
O.J. Mayo and small forward Rudy Gay, who agreed to an $82 million deal
earlier this month.

The reaction I've heard so far is "Danny must have a plan." I sure as hell hope so… because I'm worried that we just lost a tough defender off the bench. It will be interesting to see what we get in his place.

i really thought we needed tony now with the miami trio…i mean someone with a knickname “kobe stopper’ and did such a good job against lebron i cant see letting walk for 3 million dollars in an era where amir johnson gets 35 million…bad bad bad move danny

trust me, we will all learn to regret this one..you never know what you got..until it’s gone..

http://profile.typepad.com/6p0115704263ce970b Papa Irish

that wasnt a story on larry bird
it was a story that had a quote from bird in it about miami

http://profile.typepad.com/6p0115704263ce970b Papa Irish

Dear Danny Ainge,
what the fuck?
sincerely,
Ryan Williams
that pretty much sums up how i think danny has done so far outside of bringing back ray pierce and doc

greenbeand

all set with TA’s ball handling, free throws, and w/e else he brings to the court- thank gawd he left for another division

http://profile.typepad.com/6p0115704263ce970b Papa Irish

he’s used up our full mid level, and we basically still need a center and backup wing
i guess we could try to skate by with KG, Perk, Baby, and JO…. but that has to be viewed as a serious downgrade to what sheed gave us in the playoffs, considering perk is a ? and sheed is better than oneal
and now we’ve lost tony, who basically shut down lebron, wade, and kobe at times during the playoffs, and even played adequate offense while doing it
all while missing out on guys like travis outlaw, josh childress, dorell wright, anthony morrow that could have been had for the MLE or less
seriously how good does danny think jermaine oneal is?
btw any chance we pull of a s&t with memphis, if for nothing else a trade exception?

PeaceSignMoose

Memphis has cap room I think, no real chance for a S+T unfortunately.
Lets see what Danny does with Sheed’s contract. He’s been waiting this long to officially file papers for a reason.

Lee in Oregon

This is bullshit. It’s not like the Posey situation where Tony wants years & money. They will miss him dearly, especially against Miami. Very dissapointed, I can’t imagine what DA has in mind as far as who will replace TA. Bradley is a rookie, which means he wont get any respect from the refs. Celts are being cheap, Tony is definitly worth the deal he’s getting, even if he does dribble it off his foot every other time he touches it.
I’m gonna be pissed if they resign Nate now. I think TA was as important a signing as Ray Allen. Ainge & the C’s are selling bullshit this year….replace Perk & Sheed with a broken has-been (O’Neal) and a euro-project (Erdin). Now this.
So Thibs & TA are gone, the question is, does the defense (that carried them in the playoffs) leave with them?
My grade on the deal: FUCK

CoachBo

Yeah. Fold the damn franchise because a guy with little or no basketball IQ took 10 large. Thank God Ainge doesn’t spend that money on players who cannot shoot.
The Internet has lost its mind over Tony Allen. Good defender. Not a great defender. Dumb as a board with the ball in his hands.
It’s obviously just me, since there’s a damn wake going on in Tony’s honor over at Celtics Blog, where the dream of reassembling the crappy 2006 team has been dealt a death blow.
Yeah. I spend hours pining for the days when we can drop 18 damn games in a row.
But I kinda think we can come up with someone with a little basketball intelligence who can defend off the bench.

Banner18

Totally agree that Tony (trick or treat) Allen was/is over rated. For every good play he made, there was always a bonehead play to follow. That being said, we do need an athletic wing with some length who can be a defensive stopper. Who are the top three options that Danny should go after? What about Ronnie Brewer or Rasual Butler?

CoachBo

Two decent options. I’m not quite ready, thanks to injuries, to run Daniels out of town, either – if he’ll stay for a good price. There are other options, including players who aren’t dead dog dumb, like Tony.
I wonder if the overreaction could be stemmed if we’d just give the fans one of their binkies back.
Wonder how LeBroid’s momma would like Boston?
Hahahahahahaha.

Roger Verganio

Let him leave, no way boston gonna beat miami.

Shawn-cvd

I was thinking the same thing that Bo was. The make up of this team has changed since Sheed retired. Sheed could stretch defenses so TA could be hidden on offense. Now TA is more of a liability in the half court sets that his solid D cannot make up for it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if DA is entertaining bringing Nate back as well as another scoring wing. Without Thibs DA and Doc may have decided to fashion this team into a top 10 defensive squad while improving in scoring.
Sheed will return us some one and that some one would have pushed TA to third string and therefore not playing him much anyway. I think the organization wants to play Avery as the third combo guard to figure out his worth.
Worse thing about this is TA was gonna back PP now it’s down to Harongody. I imagine DA is gonna roll with Daniels one more time. Thank goodness the off-season is not over…

Um no…Sorry Papa Irish but while Sheed may have more overall “SKILL” than O’Neal, O’Neal is a MUCH more consitent mid-range shooter, a better rebounder, about equal D and free throws, and he actually knows his role and stays within 15 feet, J.O’Neal has never had a chance in his career to not be the man or the sidekick, a role sheed never ever accepted even in his prime, i think o neal will find not having to carry the load and go 38 minutes a night very good 4 his game and his knees, i’m real excited about bringing in a guys who’s made 6 all star teams by age 31, sheed didn’t make 6 his whole career because he never played hard..therefore O’Neal is better, he played hurt and against perk and K.G last year, bad recipe and he looked bad because of it. He will be very productive in green

Tommy Legend

would you guys chills out we are talking about tony f’n allen a guy you could not play for long periods of time because he can’t shoot I am going to wait and see how it plays out before freaking out but it is not a big deal lot of players better than tony. Wasnt bradley drafted to be a defensive stopper that could actually hit a shot

Saymirr

Yeah, I know that’s TA we talking about, a dude that made me bit my nails everytime he was handling the ball for more than 3 seconds, but he played his heart out on the defensive end during the last playoffs, and I started appreciating him..
Emotions apart, if Danny’s got a plan to improve the team (bringing back Nate, getting a scoring winger with Sheed’s contract) that would’ve made Tony less useful for Doc (even though a defensive stopper is more than valuable), I think I’ll overcome the loss of TA haha

http://profile.typepad.com/6p0115704263ce970b Papa Irish

ive always felt like o’neal was soft, and ive talked to some other people that feel like that too, im not sure why though. i guess its just a perception ive come to believe
i think Jermaine could do really well here, hell its been how long since he’s been on a good team?
the malace in the palace really effed his career up, that team was better than the pistons team that won the finals that year, its weird to think how different his career could have been if it wasnt for artest
they could have had a team to compete for a championship for at least as long as the pistons did, but after the brawl the pacers were forced to make so many image moves they were never even close to being the same
in many ways sheed benefited from that tremendously
and to think, o’neal is finally going to replace sheed like everyone thought he would, only he was supposed to do it how ever many years ago in portland
but to jermaine with the celtics, i think he’ll help are rebounding, just becuase sheed was never really a good rebounder, and tended to get far away from the basket on offense, and have less mobility than sheed on defense
his effort will have to be an improvement on sheeds, it cant be any worse regular season wise
i wonder about his defense, if that turns out to be solid than its a good signing by ainge, he especially has to be a better help defender than sheed though, he was downright awful

unbiased

yeah and the quote says that kobe is larry bird’s favorite player and has been for a while. OUCH.

CFH

Last summer, I begged for Tony to go anywhere else.
Last night, I woke up worried about Tony leaving.
Trick or treat!

I was right about the Blockbuster Trade Baby!

I would love to see House come back in his place.

thetitleisours

Let’s not forget that TA played poor on his non-contract year and gets injured (physically and mentally) on occasion.
Not that I do not wish he was still here, but the world is not ending
At least I can save on Rolaids now.
Anyone seen where Jackie Manuel is these days :-s

Mauritz

We’ll miss Tony for sure, but three years, 10 million? I can totally see why they wouldn’t want to overpay for a guy who has been so inconsistent and with a history of injuries like that. It’s the 12th of July, let’s call out Danny when he’s done. I’m sure we can get better value for that money. Grizzlies are having a terrible offseason, overpaying for mediocrity as ususal.

http://www.stockmarkethacker.com Stock Market Hacker

Tony at 10 million is a little too rich for me.

MikeinNYC

News of Celtics going after Josh Howard out. Best newso of the offseason. This team needs a sixth man in the worst way.
Sheed is far and away a better low post defender that JO.

CoachBo

Good to find some sanity on the Internet about the loss of the Human Turnover.
I have a feeling that Danny’s got a pretty good notion in his pocket – Howard? – to fill the void.
Now, admittedly we didn’t draft Josh Howard, so I doubt if his acquisition will placate those who can’t go on without Ryan Gomes, Delonte West, Tony Allen, Big Al No-D, and all the other garbage that Danny moved for Allen and Garnett.
But for those of us disdainful of the damned annoying fixation with the worst team in Celtics history – i.e: Those of us who want to win – Josh Howard would be a nice solution.

Lakerhater

I won’t cry a tear for TA’s departure. Yes he had some good flashes but as a whole he wasn’t worth what Danny was paying him. He will slip into oblivian in memphis, or be traded to the lakers for $25 and some best buy coupons. Take him off of the banner please so we can move on.

for three and the game

This site has always bashed Tony, always been against him. All the guy did was play his ass off every second he was on the court. Was he the smartest Celtic out there? No. But he gave it his all and was a shut down defender who attacked the ball and was sick in the open court despite his many turnovers. This site jynxed the shit out of him by keeping him off the banner and then putting him in the corner. Really, the corner?
Maybe I am just really pissed off at the whole post season right now I guess. That and the Tony Allen bashing that this site has blogged over the years.

Shannon

Will miss TA, he has improved his game and no denying his game against LB and KB. He’s young and improving and proved himself this past season. Why does DA keep bringing on “older” players with injury issues?!? Seriously a few million isnt a big deal in the big scheme of the NBA. Now with JO we dont need to resign Wallace, besides he retired (here we go again with indecisive players who make big announcements of retirement then change their minds)Scal is worthless as well. Sorry TA wont be with the boys this season, in my opinion DA made a mistake. Best of luck TA in Memphis!